Sugar Land says survey not just for art lovers

The city of Sugar Land is asking residents through an online survey to talk about what they like and would like to see regarding art in the community. One of the landmarks is a Stephen F. Austin sculpture by Bob Pack that is in the center of the plaza in the Sugar Land Town Square. less

The city of Sugar Land is asking residents through an online survey to talk about what they like and would like to see regarding art in the community. One of the landmarks is a Stephen F. Austin sculpture by ... more

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

Sugar Land says survey not just for art lovers

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After completing a nearly 80-page comprehensive cultural arts plan, the city of Sugar Land is asking residents to weigh in, starting with the subject of public art.

The city has taken several big steps after approving the plan in 2014, including hiring cultural arts manager Lindsay Davis, but it hopes an online survey that is open until year's end will pave the way for the plan's implementation.

Public art was just one of the recommended priorities that came out of the plan. Others include establishing sustainable funding streams for the arts, partnering to support arts organizations and increasing access to the arts. But the hope is that a strong start with the city's public art programming will encourage nongovernmental groups to contribute as well.

In guiding the direction of public art, the survey will help raise the visibility of the arts in the community and go a step further in establishing the city's plans for funding.

Of all the plan's recommendations, said Davis, "because this one is so significant, it really warrants its own study before we move forward."

The survey asks open-ended questions, like how residents would describe Sugar Land and whether they are familiar with works of art around the city. Some, like the sculpture of Stephen F. Austin in the Town Square, are high profile. Others, like the alligator and children at play sculptures in Oyster Creek Park, are likely less so.

Davis, who did consulting and appraisal work for corporate and private collections before being hired by the city, described Sugar Land's public art scene as relatively small, but ambitious.

"There aren't very many pieces and they're traditional," she said.

Unlike the murals and painted utility boxes around Houston, Sugar Land's city-funded artwork so far has been conventional. But, said Davis, "I've heard feedback from people wanting interactive artwork, ones that enliven infrastructure that may be aging," and more. "We'll see what people respond," she said of the survey, which she hopes will attract a broad range of citizens, especially those who don't consider themselves art lovers.

Part of Davis' job will be to fine-tune the responses she receives through focus groups, interviews and open houses once the draft public art plan is ready in the spring. It falls to her to navigate the traditional tastes of many and the ambitions of the city.

"This Cultural Arts Strategic Plan will serve as a road map for future cultural arts opportunities to further enhance Sugar Land's position as a regional leader and destination city," wrote City Manager Allen Bogard in the introduction to the 2014 plan.

In it, the city reviews public art initiatives and funding models from cities around the country, including San Francisco and Austin.

As more cities embrace the arts, including Houston, which just adopted its first cultural arts plan in 22 years, Davis said many suburban communities are also getting interested in the arts.

"Suburbs certainly are trying to create some identity because they're also trying to vie for tourism dollars, citizens, people relocating and economic development endeavors and having culture as one of the more important things a city can offer is always attractive," Davis said.

Sugar Land has long been brand-savvy, developing unique spaces like the Town Square and looking to historical landmarks like the Imperial Sugar refinery for identity. And plans for a performing arts center predate the 2014 cultural arts plan. That $84 million space is expected to be completed in October 2016, according to Doug Adolph, the city's assistant director of communications.

But that's only the beginning under the 10-year plan Davis will help implement.

"Once we create the landscape," she said, "it will help other cultural arts organizations and other organizations see how they can work arts into what they do. It will create a life of its own."